doesitanyway | [ MEADOWLARK ] IC Inbox

I like to think I have rather more restraint than that, Mr. Belmont.

( he has no real desire to become drunk. he has lived too long to find curiosity in such a state. )

But I am sorry for your hangover, such that it was.

I'm sure you do, Mr Northman.

[ Trevor... likes to think he does, and is choosing to drink, but he's been called an alcoholic a few times since being here which seems to imply actual addiction. He hums at his glass. ]

It wasn't the worst I've ever had, but I'd still spare you from it. Have you ever even had one, yourself?

( he lifts one shoulder in something like a shrug. it looks like a very... young gesture on him. )

I suppose it's possible I experienced such a thing in Rome, but I recall so little of my mortal life I cannot know for certain.

[ The gesture does look out of place on Godric, but what he says brings up a different topic. Trevor leans over the table to address him. ]

There's a question. Do you think you forgot because you wanted to, or is the mind a finite thing, only able to hold so much of one's memory? I've never had a chance to ask someone as old as yourself.

Mm.

( he takes another slow sip of that beer, savoring the spices. he sets the glass down neatly on the coaster, and folds his hands in front of him. )

The vampires of my world have perfect memory. Eidetic. We cannot forget anything that we have seen, said or done except by magical intervention. But humans do not have that, whether you think of it as curse or luxury. Do you recall your prepubescent years with perfect clarity? Or are they a jumble of thoughts, impressions, scents? I was turned at sixteen while I was slave in Rome. I cannot say that selective remembrance wouldn't have been a self-preservation tactic at that point.

I remember some events with perfect clarity, others are as you say. It does seem to matter what the event was. But I'm sorry for your time in slavery whether you recall it or not.

[ He doesn't need to say he remembers being driven from his home perfectly, every detail of it. But the before and the after come in bursts, and he does find that his mind lingered on the negative until very recently. ]

...do you still have it now that you've been changed?

I have no benchmark for my current existence, but I believe so. The memories I make now are not as... sharp. But they are still quite clear, and I recall much. It is possible that the synaptic pathways created during my time as a vampire enabled my mind to handle more information than what a human of my physical years could be reasonably assumed to retain.

( it would be a shame, to lose the information he knows. two thousand years of human history, gone in an instant. it was different on the roof of the carmilla, he was not the only one who had lived those years. here... it is nearly a weight. )

I'm sorry, synaptic what now?

[ Any inference Trevor might make by context would likely be wrong -- he just doesn't know what that word means, and knows Godric won't make him feel foolish or stupid as some do because terms simply didn't exist in his time. ]

Ah.

( he considers a moment, how to pare his meaning down. he is hardly an expert on the human brain as it was never necessary for him to be so, but it is nearly impossible not to absorb knowledge by osmosis when you have lived so many centuries.

then: )

Consider the mind a dark labyrinth. Each new thing we learn lights a corridor, and allows regular travel down that hall, which in turn enables us to use the information stored there. Does that make sense?

It does, yes. I took your meaning, that you've expanded your mind in a way, but didn't recognize the term. Perhaps I'll look it up later and see if there's too much unfamiliar terminology on the network encyclopedia.

[ Trevor isn't stupid -- and he does like to learn -- but it'd be rude to be absorbed in searching for an explanation while they're chatting. He offers Godric a smile of thanks. ]

I can't imagine what I'd do with that much time on my hands. Learn everything I could, perhaps. How many languages can you speak?

I find that there are... certain barriers to learning about contemporary subjects. It presupposes you have existing knowledge or understanding of fundamentals, which in turn makes it more difficult to parse basic information. I will assist you if I can, you need only ask.

( he cocks his head at the question, considering. )

Perhaps a few hundred. More, if you count the ones I know that are extinct by human reckoning, or if you hold different dialects to fall under the same linguistic umbrella.

I did ask after a tutor of sorts, once, but was summarily ridiculed. It's been far better to ask friends to explain their meaning, yes. Thank you, Godric.

[ Trevor nearly chokes on his next sip at 'a few hundred.' ]

...I didn't even know there were so many. Your mind is an impressive, priceless thing.

At last count, I believe there were perhaps just beyond six thousand languages on Earth alone. In that context, it's hardly impressive when you consider how long I've lived.

( he has a tendency to immerse himself in a culture. picking up languages is easy the more you know, the better your memory and pattern recognition. it's almost cheating. )

But I thank you. I do wish I had used it more for the betterment of mankind in my time on Earth.

I'm sure it's a limitation of my time period that I could only name a few dozen. There are countries on the map now I've never heard of, and my own is lost to time. Let me be impressed.

[ He tilts his head. ]

Who's to say you didn't? In all that time, even one man can influence quite a bit.

Then please, be as impressed as you wish.

( his voice is light, tone just shy of being teasing. )

You're quite optimistic for a man who hunts monsters, Trevor. Has anyone ever told you that before?

[ Trevor blinks, looking surprised at that commentary on his disposition. People haven't had many opportunities to say good things about him in general, for which he doesn't actually blame himself, so this is sort of new. ]

No, actually. I suppose it's a new development, after overcoming something that seemed impossible. There's still a long way to go, though.

Before?

( a long ways to go implies there is an end point he has already determined. he could mean death, godric supposes. he's certainly fatalistic enough to imply as much. )

Before we've ensured humanity won't be exterminated. Dracula is gone -- the army he assembled continues to weigh siege upon the land.

[ And if he dies in fighting, so be it -- Trevor doesn't fear death. ]

( there has never been a true dracula in his world. a few vampires that so self-styled themselves after humanity seized upon the name, which simply means dragon. but godric listens intently anyway, amidst the occasional sip of his draught. )

An army of... vampires?

( he hazards. monsters, to the degree that trevor is familiar, do not exist for him back home. )

The Night Horde.

[ If it were just vampires, they'd be much safer. ]

Vampires and demons -- monstrous creatures forged from the corpses of men, so far as I know. I'm uncertain who was creating them for Dracula, it's possible they were killed in the siege as well, but unlikely.

( he makes a soft hm of noise. )

Curious. There are necromancers in my world, but I haven't known them to be particularly fond of vampires. Another thing that separates us, I believe.

Those creating the Horde were loyal to Dracula, I don't know if or why they would be serving others as well. We didn't exactly get to chat.

[ Interesting. ]

There are necromancers... do they hold control over those they reconstruct as well?

Yes.

( he would generally balk at passing this information on, but seeing as how he is confident their worlds are different, and he is the only vampire of his world here — )

But they can also control vampires.

...I see.

[ Trevor's not an expert in the matter, but he's relatively certain that's not the case in his world. ]

I'll keep that in confidence, if you were worried.

( he shakes his head briefly, and then reaches across the table to touch trevor's wrist, carefully done over the cuff of his shirt. )

Your loyalty is not in question, my friend. But I am the only vampire left in this place, and given that I am hardly one myself any more, I do not think the information would help anyone who learned it.

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